Falkingham

This interesting and unusual name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, specifically from Lincolnshire and West Yorkshire, and is a locational surname deriving from the ancient parish of Falkingham, also known as Folkingham, near the city of Lincolnshire. The placename means "the homestead of Falca's people", from the Old English pre 7th Century "Falcingaham", composed of the Old English byname "Falca", falcon, with the suffix "-ingas", meaning "people, family of", with "ham", homestead, estate, village. The place in Suffolk near Ipswich called "Falkenham" shares the same meaning and derivation, and there may have been some confusion between the two placenames in the adopting of the modern surnames found as Falkingham, Folkingham, Falkenham and Folkenham. The surname development includes Robert Fokyngam (1570, Lincolnshire), Pygootte Falkinghame (1586, Yorkshire), and Anne Fawkingham (1594, ibid.). One Richard Falkingham was christened in Leeds, Yorkshire, on April 29th 1589. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ann Falkingham (marriage to George Baildon), which was dated 1563, Snaith Parish Register, Yorkshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.